Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-01-05
TALK ON SMUGGLING.
People OF Wealth Who Like tn
Cheat the Government
Piraticai Ships and Desperate Crews
Thngs OF the Past-valuable Diamond
hia In SoaP-The Principal
Contraband Goods.
IWashington Starl

The day of genuine SMUGGLING ia oone
The smuggler of the boys romance Of the
sea, VINO sailed in dark, suspicions-
iooklng craft and had a cave hid some
Wnere laS away where he stored his goods
alo neio dark conclaves at night, has
passeu away, and there are those who be-
neve ne never existed at all But snug
ghng mas not stopped. Only now they
don't go in gangs and sail their own .h;ns
Ihey don't wear red shirts and cutlasses
nowadays They are entirely respectable
people ana go in the best of society. They
wear nhe clothes and diamonds, and are
very friendly with the customs officers.
Inc smuggling is now done mostly bv
iashlonable people who travel and by bust
ness men.
we can never tell how much is done,n
said special agent of the Government to
reporter Il have no doubt an immense
number OF things are landed without
outy. There is no such thing as band of
smugglers, but nearly every steamer
brings over some contraband goods.
They are generally fine laces, millinery.
expensive tailor trimmings and the like.
great many business men go abroard
with trunks and bring them back full of
these things. They are very expensive.
and many thousand dollars worth can be
brought over in very small space. Ex-
penslve feathers, fine vel vets and ribbons.
faces, SILK braids and trimming of all sorts
take up but little space and are subject to
hlgh DUTY Sometimes smugglers get
caught We can't tell how often they
don't Jewelry is Struggled in to great
extent, particularly diamonds. Nearly all
the diamonds brought to this country are
smuggled We know that great quantity
OF these gems are imported. but we have
never collected duty on many. Such an
immense value can be carried in a small
space that it is easy to evade the customs
omcers. Ten thousand dollars worth of
diamonds might be carried in a mans vest
pocket. Who would think to search him
unless he was suspected of smugglingl
Inc customs officers can't search every
body.
but then" he add ed, as If he feared he
was oHerlng TOO much encouragement to
VIOLATIONS OF the customs; ''but then YOU
must not think it altogether safe bust
ness, You might get caught when YOU
least expected. Men who think they are
perfectly safe often fall into a tran. There
are people who are always ready to give
| information that will lead to the uncover
ing OF smuggler. The Government was
warned by an anonymous letter not long
since that certain party would sail from
EUROPE on certain steamer, and that if
we would search him we would find dia-
monds. We were on the watch. He was
a very gentlemanly looking man of fine
appearance and good address. He had
only the ordinary baggage, was perfectly
willing that it should be searched, but was
amused at the idea of being suspected of
smuggling. The officers felt rather cheap
alter fruitless search, and was
apologlzlng for the trouble they had
gwen him, when one of them
picked up a cake of soap out of
his dressing-case. There was nothing ne
culiar In the appearance of the soap, but
when the officer handled it too roughly it
broke open, and out rolled the little spark
ling gems The inside of the cake had
been followed out and $4,000 worth of dia-
monds slowed away in the cavity Had
we not been notified he would have been
perfectly safe and got through as the
others have done But no man can be sure
that he Will not be the one to be caught
Our lnformers are everywhere. The Gov
eminent can give Il reward of as much as
half the value of the goods seized to the
informer. This is an inducement to MANY
people 10 report any cases that come un-
der their notice. There are people con-
stantly on the lookout on the other side
and we are notified when TO look for snug
glers. A great many patriotic citizens have
an antipathy for smugglers. and do
as a matter of principle, report
every one they find Preachers are
particularly apt to do this. The
cloth is our best source of information.
People frequently brag, on going abroad
that when they return they will bring so
and so without duty. We generally hear
of this and are on the lookout. Only the
other day gentleman came to the Office
and informed me of parties who were
going to bring over lot of valuable
things. He did it merely because he hated
smuggling.
But experienced smugglers," continued
the special agent, ''do not get caught thus
They are generally known as dealers, and
their baggage is very closely watched, but
theJ never make a confidant of any one
Tourists do much smuggling They bring
presents to their friends and collect orna-
ments and all sorts of things they can
get cheap abroad, and try to slip them
through without duty. Many people
do this without knowing that they
are violating the law They think that any
thing they do not intend to sell is not duti-
able. With thousands of dollars worth of
things in their trunk they will swear that
theyhave no dutiable goods. Their sur
prise is genuine when the goods are seized.
''The things that are struggled most,
next to jewelry and trimmings, are gloves,
fans and stockings. This can not be
stopped. Gloves and stockings are fire.
quently sent, one at time, through the
mail. Another thing upon which very lit
tie duty is collected, though doubtless much
is imported, is opium. This is Struggled
into California to a great extent, / pre-
sumo, but there is no way of telling. Ger
tainly the Chinese there use much of it on
which duty has never been collected"